Jaayson & Brian said most of what I wanted to say, so I won't say
too much.
 
The first 7 minutes of the game were in the Clarkson zone. RPI kept
the pressure on and put a few good, quality shots on Dan Murphy.
Murphy did the job, though. RPI could have easily set the tone by
getting a couple early goals, but Murphy came up big. I'd say there
were about 7-8 shots in that 7-minute span.
 
But after that run, it was all Clarkson. Jeremy Lopata (relatively
unknown to Clarkson folks - especially me) was the star. A goal
and two assists sparked a great performance by the Golden Knights.
 
CLarkson did a good job all night by standing RPI up at the neutral
zone and keeping RPI from setting up. They hit Bryan Richardson and
Kyle Ferguson all night, holding the two of them to only one point on the
night. Defense was the big word of the game, even though there was a
total of 59 shots. Mike Tamburro played well, but he didn't have enough
help. Clarkson was able to bring the puck in the RPI zone all night
without much resistance. RPI kinda laid back and let them set up and
generate some offense. Tamburro (and Dan Fridgen, for that matter) can't
be happy with the defense that RPI showed.
 
I can't single out one player for Clarkson (except for maybe Lopata) who
was the dominant star of the night. The Clarkson defense, the Clarkson
offense, Dan Murphy,....  This was probably the best team effort that
I've seen Clarkson put together in the past few years. Keep in mind that
I've only seen Clarkson play about 8 or 9 times in that span. :-)
 
As Brian Morris said, this was Clarkson's night. RPI helped them, but
the green & gold was certainly more prominent than the red & white. Last
night was the first time I saw that huge green & gold flag parade around
Houston Fieldhouse with a lot of pride. A well-deserved trip around the
arena.
 
My three stars:
 
1. Clarkson defense
2. Jeremy Lopata
3. Dan Murphy
 
We're heading down the stretch in the ECAC. Only six games left in the
season.  Clarkson hosts Princeton and Yale in Potsdam next weekend, then
a tough test at Harvard & Brown the week after, and hosting Cornell &
Colgate the final weekend, which should be a couple of head-knockers.
 
RPI travels to Dartmouth & Vermont, then to Cornell & Colgate, and hosts
Yale & Princeton at the airplane hangar the final weekend.
 
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+                                                                     +
+  Andy Weise           Let's Go Tech!                                +
+  SUNY Potsdam '93                     [log in to unmask]       +
+  Union College '95    Let's Go U!                                   +
+                                                                     +
+  Performance Systems International, Inc. (PSI)                      +
+                                                                     +
+  "If you think nobody cares you're alive, try missing a couple of   +
+   car payments."                                                    +
+                                                                     +
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